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Ask questions to Box AI

Guides Box AI Ask questions to Box AI
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Ask questions to Box AI

Box AI API is a beta feature, which means the available capabilities may change. Box AI API is available to all Enterprise Plus customers.

Box AI API allows you to ask a question about a supplied file or a set of files, and get a response based on the content. For example, while viewing a document in Box, you can ask Box AI to summarize the content.

Send a request

To send a request containing your question, use the POST /2.0/ai/ask endpoint and provide the mandatory parameters.

cURL
curl -i -X POST "https://api.box.com/2.0/ai/ask" \
     -H "content-type: application/json" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
     -d '{
         "mode": "single_item_qa",
         "prompt": "What is the value provided by public APIs based on this document?",
         "items": [
        {
            "type": "file",
            "id": "9842787262"
        }
       ],
     }'
Java
BoxAIResponse response = BoxAI.sendAIRequest(
    api,
    "What is the content of the file?",
    Collections.singletonList("123456", BoxAIItem.Type.FILE)),
    BoxAI.Mode.SINGLE_ITEM_QA
);
TypeScript (Beta)
await client.ai.createAiAsk({
  mode: 'multiple_item_qa' as AiAskModeField,
  prompt: 'Which direction sun rises?',
  items: [
    new AiAskItemsField({
      id: fileToAsk1.id,
      type: 'file' as AiAskItemsTypeField,
      content: 'Earth goes around the sun',
    }),
    new AiAskItemsField({
      id: fileToAsk2.id,
      type: 'file' as AiAskItemsTypeField,
      content: 'Sun rises in the East in the morning',
    }),
  ],
} satisfies AiAsk);
Python (Beta)
client.ai.create_ai_ask(CreateAiAskMode.MULTIPLE_ITEM_QA.value, 'Which direction sun rises?', [CreateAiAskItems(id=file_to_ask_1.id, type=CreateAiAskItemsTypeField.FILE.value, content='Earth goes around the sun'), CreateAiAskItems(id=file_to_ask_2.id, type=CreateAiAskItemsTypeField.FILE.value, content='Sun rises in the East in the morning')])
.NET (Beta)
await client.Ai.CreateAiAskAsync(requestBody: new AiAsk(mode: AiAskModeField.MultipleItemQa, prompt: "Which direction sun rises?", items: Array.AsReadOnly(new [] {new AiAskItemsField(id: fileToAsk1.Id, type: AiAskItemsTypeField.File, content: "Earth goes around the sun"),new AiAskItemsField(id: fileToAsk2.Id, type: AiAskItemsTypeField.File, content: "Sun rises in the East in the morning")})));

Authentication

Make sure you have generated the developer token to authorize your app. See Getting Started with Box AI for details.

Parameters

To make a call, you need to pass the following parameters. Mandatory parameters are in bold.

ParameterDescriptionAvailable valuesExample
modeThe type of request. It can be a question about a single file or a set of files. For multiple files, Box AI API supports up to 1MB of text representation and up to 25 files.single_item_qa, multiple_item_qasingle_item_qa
promptThe question about your document or content."What is this document about?"
items.idThe Box file ID you want to provide as input.112233445566
items.typeThe type of the provided input. Currently, it can be a single file or multiple files.filefile
items.contentThe content of the item, often the text representation.“An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs or components to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface……”